Thread: Trump praises Australian universal health care

Trump praises Australia's universal health care after Obamacare repeal

By Ben Westcott, CNN

Updated 3:53 AM ET, Fri May 5, 2017
Trump praises Australian universal health care

By Ben Westcott, CNN
Updated 3:53 AM ET, Fri May 5, 2017

Story highlights

Australia's health care system is mostly government-funded, providing many services for free
Trump made his comments the same day as Republicans voted to repeal Obamacare

(CNN) Hours after scoring a victory in the House to effectively kill Obamacare, US President Donald Trump praised Australia's universal health care system during a press conference with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

"It's going to be fantastic health care," Trump said, referring to his new health care plan. "I shouldn't say this to our great gentleman and my friend from Australia because you have better health care than we do."

US Senator Bernie Sanders quickly picked up on the remark which came after Trump's new bill passed by a handful of votes.

The new law still has to pass the US Senate.

"Well Mr President, you're right, in Australia and every other major country on Earth they guarantee health care to all people. They don't throw 24 million people off health insurance. So maybe when we get to the Senate we should start off with looking at the Australian health care system," Sanders told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Australia has a universal health care system, known as Medicare, which gives citizens free access to doctors and public hospitals paid for by the government.

In the US, the new Republican bill will significantly cut the amount of government support for Medicaid, which provides health care support to some US citizens.

How Australia's health care system works

Australia's health care system is mostly funded by the government while relying on private health insurance for some services.

It was originally introduced by the left-wing government of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 to provide the "most equitable and efficient means of providing health insurance coverage for all Australians." It replaced an earlier system of voluntary health insurance.

Australian residents are able to see doctors and optometrists, as well as receive some minor surgeries, usually free of charge. The partial cost of pharmaceuticals is also covered under the separate Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Residents get hospital treatment at no charge, although you can't choose your doctor.

It is partly funded by a 2% levy on all taxpayers, although that can be reduced or even waived for people earning low incomes.

For the wealthy, an additional tax applies to people who don't have private health insurance.

In 2014, the Australian government spent 9% of its GDP on health care, compared to the 17% spent by the United States the same year.

Not everything is free however -- Medicare doesn't cover all dentist visits, most physiotherapy and ambulance services. Many Australians still need private health insurance for some or all of these.

Battle over Obamacare

Health care in the US is much more complicated -- there is no broad overarching government-funded health care system.

Instead, the majority of health care providers are privately run and health insurance can be purchased to use them.

The vast majority of health insurance is provided by US citizens' employers, although tens of millions of Americans remain uninsured.

In an attempt to improve the system, former US President Barack Obama passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, during his first term. A signature achievement of his administration, it came to be known as Obamacare.

It was designed to increase the array of healthcare benefits provided by insurers and levied a tax on the wealthy to help pay for it. Republicans were strongly opposed to the law and called for its repeal.

However, Democrats say millions of Americans would lose their insurance if Trump's bill was to pass.

The bill also allow insurers to charge higher premiums for those in their 50s and early 60s, compared to younger consumers, and slashes federal support for Medicaid.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/04/politi...are/index.html

Average Salary Australia
Full Time Salaries | New South Wales | Victoria | Western Australia | Queensland | South Australia
Wage Facts

Full-time earnings in Australia averaged A$78,832 a year in the second quarter of 2016. (Seasonally adjusted wages – Bureau of Statistics.)

If overtime and bonuses are included, average Australian earnings were A$81,947 per annum.

The average full-time male salary (excluding overtime) in Australia is A$83,902 per annum

The average full-time female salary in Australia (excluding overtime) is A$70,392 per annum.

Workers in Capital Territory are Australia’s highest paid workers while Tasmania has the lowest average salary.
Average Full Time Ordinary Time Earnings Q2 2016
State Average Annual Wage
Tasmania $69,477
South Australia $73,757
Victoria $75,634
Queensland $75,936
New South Wales $80,132
Northern Territory $81,624
Western Australia $88,327
Capital Territory $89,846

Australia’s best-paid workers are those employed in the mining industry, with ordinary earnings averaging A$139,303 a year.

Average Full Time Ordinary Time Earnings Q2 2016 By Industry
Business Sector Average Annual Wage
Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants $56,113
Retail Trade $58,640
Other Services $64,704
Administrative and Support Services $67,642
Manufacturing $72,332
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services $72,394
Arts and Recreation Services $73,148
Wholesale Trade $77,241
Construction $78,957
Transport, Postal, Warehousing $82,805
Health Care and Social Assistance $84,183
Public Administration and Safety $85,202
Education and Training $89,950
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services $92,482
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services $94,396
Information Media and Telecommunications $96,652
Financial and Insurance Services $97,235
Mining $139,303

In the past 12 months Australian ordinary full time wages have increased by 2.0%, around 2 percentage points below its average of the past decade.

https://www.livingin-australia.com/

There's obviously a great deal about Australia's health care system that BERNIE SANDERS doesn't know anything about, what it costs, who pays for it, how it works, or most importantly, how much the people earn in Australia compared to what we earn in the United States.

Average Salary Information for US Workers

By Alison Doyle
Updated April 25, 2017

How much is the average salary for US workers? Salaries vary based on gender, education, occupation, industry, geographical location, ethnicity, and other factors. Here's information on the average salary in a variety of categories, and calculators to use to determine the salary for specific occupations.

Average Salary Information for US Workers

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for workers in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2016 was $849 per week or $44,148 per year for a 40-hour work week.

Wages were 2.9 percent higher than at the same date for the previous year, a gain of 1.8 percent.

However, salaries can vary significantly based on both on occupation and location. For example, people working in professional, management and related occupations earned an average of $63,076 annually, while those working in service occupations only earned an average of $28, 080 annually. Jobs in large metropolitan cities which have a higher cost of living tend to pay more than jobs in more rural areas.

Average Salaries for US Men and Women

The BLS reports that for the fourth quarter of 2016, men earned a median average of $927 per week while women earned only $758 or 81.8 percent of what males earned.

Average Salary Based on Education

Workers age 25 and over without a high school degree had median weekly earnings of $519 at the end of 2016 compared with $698 for high school graduates. College graduates with at least a bachelor's degree earned $1,270 per week.

College graduates with advanced degrees earned a median average of $1476 each week.

Median Salary vs. Average Salary

What's the difference between the average salary for a job and the median salary? The median salary (also called the midpoint) for a job is the wage at the middle of a range. Half of the workers in the United States earn below this level and half earn above it.

The average salary (also called the mean) for a job is an average of all the salaries for a specific job.

To get the average salary, you add all the salaries for a job and divide it by the number of people working at that occupation. As mentioned above, the average salary can vary based on location, the supply and demand for the job, and other factors.

How to Find the Average Salary for a Job

When you are evaluating careers or job searching, it can be useful to know what you can expect to make. It can also be a good bargaining tool, when negotiating a salary with a new employer or a pay raise with a current one, to know the average salary that others with your job title make in your geographical region. The link below provides salary profiles for a variety of different occupations, plus links to salary calculators and tools for comparing salaries and discovering how much you can earn.

Salaries for Jobs: A - Z List

Salary and Cost of Living Calculators

There are a variety of calculators you can use to find out what the average salary is for a job in your occupation and location of interest. In addition, you can use a cost-of-living calculator to determine how much it actually costs to live in a specific location.

https://www.thebalance.com/average-s...orkers-2060808

Compare Australia's salaries to ours and you can see how very far behind we are. The problem in the United States isn't health insurance, it's lack of good jobs and good incomes. Trump wants to solve the base problem which is the jobs and income problem. He can't do that without tax reform to bring our good jobs back home, he can't do the tax reform without fixing the health insurance issue. And I think, I hope at least, that this is also the goal of most Republicans.

About time someone actually admits other countries have better healthcare than ours at a portion of the cost. Most countries have been doing it for years and apparently someone finally actually researched it. The average salary does not really matter many small countries also have universal healthcare with the option of private insurance which is minimal compared to what we are charged. I know that if a small country like Costa Rica still considered a 3rd world country can do it and rated above us in National health care report. They utilize everything pharmacist for minor ailments to Dr.s actually visiting pharmacies along with local clinics for more serious problems everyday at a certain time in every small town. It can be done if the Insurance companies and Lobbyist stay out of government and elected officials were not so so easily prostituted. I remember when I lived in Upstate NY talking to a senator and we were discussing Insurance and he told me 25 years ago when I was an insurance agent that everyone could be covered by adding a small fee on payroll tax. Everyone would pay and everyone would be covered simply by extending medicare coverage to everyone. He also said it would never go because there was to much money to be made in my industry. They have known this was available for years but Insurance is a big Industry with big pull. Most countries also have caps on what can be charged for medical visits, tests, procedures etc. So you don't get one hospital charging say 60000 for a by pass and another hospital charging 25000 for the same procedure. Inconsistencies in billing cost millions every year.

What's even worse, posylady is that the same hospital will charge an individual with no insurance a high amount for the same procedure they charge an insured customer a much lower amount. It's despicable. Like I posted awhile back, the collusion between the insurance industry and the medical providers to push up prices for medical care that is then passed on to insurance companies is beyond any scope ever even contemplated by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. It would be largest Sherman Anti-Trust action in US history, probably world-wide history. 1/5th of the US economy is involved in this scam and have been for decades.

TRUMP: 'Of course the Australians have better healthcare than we do — everybody does'

Bob Bryan
4h
May 5, 2017

US President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday to defend remarks he had made about healthcare during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

During a photo shoot with Turnbull, Trump told the prime minister that he didn't need to tell him about the US healthcare system under the Affordable Care Act "because you have better healthcare than we do."

Australia has a universal healthcare system, which Republicans have long attacked.

Trump tried to clarify the remark on Friday.

"Of course the Australians have better healthcare than we do — everybody does," Trump tweeted. "ObamaCare is dead! But our healthcare will soon be great."

Australia's is one of 58 countries that has some form of a universal healthcare system. The American Health Care Act, the GOP plan to repeal and replace the law known as Obamacare, scraps a large swath of government control from the healthcare system, essentially moving the US further from an Australia-style universal healthcare.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House deputy press secretary, had suggested earlier on Friday that Trump was being "complimentary" of Turnbull.

"I think he was simply being complimentary of the prime minister, and I don't think it was much more than that," Huckabee-Sanders said.

Trump pushed back his meeting with Turnbull in New York City by several hours to celebrate the passage of the AHCA in the House on Thursday. The president and members of the House GOP conference held a celebratory press conference at the White House after the bill passed by a thin margin.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump...amacare-2017-5

Trump does not think U.S. should copy Australia's health system: White House

Fri May 5, 2017 | 4:06pm EDT

President Donald Trump was simply saying nice things to an ally when he called Australia's universal healthcare system better than the U.S. system, and he does not think his country should adopt a similar approach, the White House said on Friday.

"The president was complimenting a foreign leader on the operations of their healthcare system," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a news briefing. "It didn't mean anything more than that."

Trump raised eyebrows when he told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday in New York, "You have better health care than we do."

Trump spoke shortly after he led a White House rally with Republicans from the House of Representatives, who had just passed legislation to overturn much of former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law and move further away from a guarantee of universal coverage.

That measure, opposed by Democrats, must clear the Senate before Trump can sign it into law.

"Of course the Australians have better healthcare than we do - everybody does," Trump tweeted on Friday. "ObamaCare is dead! But our healthcare will soon be great."

Independent scorekeepers at the Congressional Budget Office have not yet analyzed the bill, but they estimated an earlier version would have led to 24 million fewer Americans with insurance coverage than under current law.

Australia's government plays a larger role in its health system. The country provides free hospital treatment and subsidized medical care for all residents through a publicly funded program. Roughly half of Australians choose to buy private coverage, which provides them with greater choices.

Huckabee Sanders said Trump's remarks do not mean he thinks the United States should adopt a similar system.

"I think he believes that they have a good healthcare system for Australia," she said. "What works in Australia may not work in the United States."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN18125B